CommunityCam maps Philadelphia's surveillance cameras

Here at PlanPhilly’s Eyes on the Street, we know we’re not the only eyes on the street, but now a new website is helping Philadelphians find out exactly where other eyes [read: video surveillance cameras] are located.

The website CommunityCam launched last month and features a crowd-sourced map of surveillance cameras at private, residential and business locations throughout the city.

The hope is that people who are involved in a crime or an accident will be able to use the site to find out if the incident might have been caught on camera and then potentially use that footage to further investigate.

So far there are approximately 80 cameras listed throughout Philadelphia.

All of the cameras are crowd-sourced – or added voluntarily by individuals and businesses. No actual footage is streamed or uploaded. Each camera’s location is simply listed and shown on the map.

About the author

Christine Fisher, Transportation reporter

From 2012-2014 Christine covered transportation, writing about everything from pedestrian concerns to bicycle infrastructure, bridges, trail networks, public transit and more. Her favorite assignments sent her bushwhacking through Philadelphia’s yet-to-be-cleared bike trails, catching a glimpse of SEPTA’s inner workings or pounding the pavement to find out what pedestrians really think. Christine also covered community news for Eyes on the Street, where her work ranged from food sovereignty to public art and urban greening. She first joined PlanPhilly in fall 2011 as an intern through a partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods website.